Not What he Seems
by BradThepichu
Summary: When Aleks and his sister Olivia move to Beach City after a troubled past, Aleks meets the boy Steven and quickly develops feeling for the young boy. Aleks, being unsure of Steven, takes things slow but is Steven really not what he seems? (FLUFFY YAOI) (OC) The story is set in a first person P.O.V UNLESS SAID OTHERWISE. (No schedule)
1. Chapter 1

A quick description of the main character; his name is Aleks and his age is 14. His height and weight are similar to Steven (a little overweight) with Aleks being slightly taller. Eye color is black and hair color is dark brown and is curly and medium length. Okay, on with chapter 1 ^-^

Chapter 1: Moving to Beach City

As my big sister Olivia drove me into this new "city" that I have never even heard of; she kept trying to convince me that us moving was for the best. "Listen, Olivia, I understand why we are moving, I'm just not a big fan of it" I told him. He seemed to understand why after what happened in Jersey. "I know. But I just want to let you know that I understand what happened was hard on you, it was hard for me too, but if you ever need to talk to someone.. I am here for you" she said as she put her hand on my shoulder.

We found the area we were going to call our new home at the end of a block, as we pulled in the driveway what I could see down the road, was a carwash.

"It's a Wash?" I said to myself out loud

"It looks like a carwash" she replied and I gave her an expression like 'oh really?' "Aleks help me with the luggage please?"

"I got you" I said as I walked to the back of the car after dropping my gaze and the building not too far away. And as I grabbed the rest of our luggage for the car I looked back at the carwash to see a young chubby, black haired boy wearing a pink shirt and blue jeans talking to an older man with long brown hair and a tank top with a bald top. His father I assume, I think they look similar but they are too far away for me to tell.

As I help Olivia put the last chair down our new house is now complete! "Wahoo!" Olivia shouted as she plopped down on the couch next to the chair.

"Man, that was not fun" I told her, "You can say that again" she replied.

I was started to get bored just sitting in the house so as I decided to explore the new house Olivia says something. "Hey Aleks, I heard about the really good donut place down the street past that carwash, you should go get us some."

"How did you hear about this? We just got here?" I asked her, she then waved her phone at me. "I didn't just pick this place randomly little brother, I know some people here." She said answering my question.

"But why do I have to go?"

"Because I have been here before, this will also give you the chance to go explore and make some friends for once"

I was kind of getting annoyed by her at this point, however; she was not wrong. Back when I lived in jersey I never made any friends I always just hung around Olivia, but us having a 6 year age gap, her being 20 years old, I don't doubt that I annoyed her very much.

"Okay fine you win, I'll go get us donuts and TRY to talk to people" "You better, I don't want to always babysit you" Okay, hearing that kind of hurt but I know it was the truth; she said that she has friends here and she probably wants to hang out with them.

I was heading for the door when she called my name one more time and gave me the two fingered salute, "Hey Aleks, good luck on bringing a boy home" I blushed and ran out the door to take a breather; okay let me say something, I blush really easy and I "overheat" as I call it where I have to calm down and take deep breaths or I might pass out. I am also very susceptible to freaking out and having panic attacks.

Just to clarify, yes, I am gay; Olivia was the first person and the only person who knows this. She is the only person I trusted since I was born. I never told my mom or even my dad for a lot reasons, but I'd rather not talk about that right now.

As I walked past the carwash curiosity took over and I looked at the windows to see if I could see that boy again. Of course he wasn't there; if I were to talk to someone he would probably be my first choice considering he is the only kid I saw that looked around my age. Then again he was at a distance and I didn't see his face so I could be wrong.

I passed the wash and I kept walking with nothing to my left but a big hill with a lighthouse on the top of it. To my right I of course passed a bunch of houses and when I looked down the street I saw a building with a thick ring on the top. I am going to assume that is the donut place. Now that the place is in site started to pick up my pace to arrive there sooner, now that I am actually outside all the courage I had to go and talk to people has faded and now I just want to get there and get back home.

I finally made it to the donut store, I look at the top to read the name of the store. "The Big Donut?" I said out loud and started walking into the store. Since it was starting to get dark out when I opened the door I felt like I was blinded by the bright lights. The door made a small *ting* and I heard a friendly voice call out to me

"Lars! It is about time you came ba-" The girl suddenly stopped and stared at me. She seemed to be embarrassed because I probably wasn't the person she expected to see. This gave me the chance to study her as well; she wore a purple uniform with a donut on it, she had blond hair and didn't seem to be much taller than me but I could tell that she was definitely older. But in a store this size I would imagine that she would be working with someone else but she seemed to be working alone.

"Oh, I am so sorry" She said blushing. "You weren't the person I thought you were.." I could tell but I just smiled and waved while looking around the store to see what is here. To my right was two vending machines and a soda machine next to them; and to my left was a coffee maker, and the walls were white with a reddish orange stripe on the top, and the floors had beige colored tiles. I didn't think much of this place until I looked behind the girl to see a bunch of donuts in a case.

"Wow" I meant to say in my head. "Hey, are you new here?" She asked me.

"Oh, is it really that obvious?" I felt really dumb because I must've stuck out like a sore thumb. "Only because this is a very small city and you get to know everyone here really quick." Great, do I really want to know everybody here? "My name is Sadie, what's yours?" I thought for a moment, deeming it rude to lie/not tell her my name I decided 'Hey, what could go wrong?' "Aleks, my name is Aleks."

She seemed deep in thought for a quick moment before saying "Well Aleks, what would you like?" Me knowing that my sister's favorite donut is just glazed and I'm not the best fan on donuts. "Umm, can I get 3 glazed donuts?" I'm only getting one for myself and two for my sister.

She grabbed the donuts and put them in a bag. "That will be $2.49 please." She said and I handed her the money; but I also decided to take my sister's advice and try to start a conversation. "So, do you work here all alone?" I asked Sadie. "Actually, the person who I thought you were, is my co-worker." she said answering my question. "Where is he now?" I asked genuinely curious. "He said that he was going to the bathroom, that was two hours ago." "Oh, that sucks, I'm sorry" I told her honestly. "Oh, don't worry about it. He does this very often" I shot her a small smile and I decided it was time to head home. "Well I have to go home, don't want to keep my sister waiting." She then waved me goodbye and I turned to leave.

As I started walking out the door I brushed shoulders with someone else, I was shocked when I saw who it was. It was that boy I saw earlier; but this time I got a better view of him. His eye color is black, and his pink shirt has a big yellow star on it and he is wearing pink sandals. Honesty he looked very cute, and I was just a little taller than him. However my heart started to race and so did my feet, I practically ran out of the building after I got my glimpse at him. Wait why am I running?

I didn't stop running until I made it all the way back to my house, out of breath I reached in my pocket to grab the keys to the house when I realized that my sister never gave me the keys. I sigh and start knocking on the door when I hear a sound and look up. "Whatcha doing down there?" I heard Olivia say to me. "Trying to get into the house, wanna help me out?" "Where did you put your keys?" Wait what? She never gave me my keys? "You never gave me any?" "Oh but little brother I did but when you left the house I saw them on the ground" she said swinging the keys in her hand, taunting me. "Oh, I'm sorry, can you let me in the house now?" She stopped swinging the keys and looked at me. "And why would I do that?" I had her right where I wanted her. "Because, I have these perfectly good glaze donuts but I mean if you don't want them.." I said as I started walking away. "No wait!" I heard the keys hit the ground and I grabbed them and entered the house.

Let me give you a quick description about my sister. We are very different; she has long blond hair and always wears this black fedora on her tight blue jeans via a chain. She is also very athletic which always puzzled me because she always ate like a horse. She has ocean blue eyes and mainly wears this white shirt with blue and red stripes. But the biggest difference between us is that she is also very good at video games while I am very bad at them. Her favorite game is Mass Effect 2 which if she isn't eating or talking with friends she is playing that. She also had this competitive nature and she never gives up. Sometimes I wonder how we are related.

She basically sprinted down the stairs when she heard the door shut. "So, is it true or did you just bait me into letting you inside?" That was a pleasant thought, if I didn't have donuts with me she would have kept me outside. "I really do have these donuts." I said as I tossed her the bag. "You don't want any of these?" Honestly, after what happened earlier with that boy.. I felt very sick. "No.. I don't feel good, I'm probably going to bed soon." She shot me this look of doubt but when we made eye contact she knew that there was some truth in my words. "Okay, but remember, if you need to talk, I am right upstairs." She said as he turned around and headed up the stairs to where I assume her room is. When I was helping set up the house I only did all of my room and half of the living room. I had the choice to either explore the rest of the house or go to bed; it was only 8:21PM but I was being truthful when I said I didn't feel good. I decided to go to bed. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep.

Hey, are you okay?

Who's there?

Just stay here, I will get help!

Wait.. please don't go. I don't want to be alone…

I was awoken by a huge clap of thunder, it felt like it shook the whole house. 'What is going on outside' I thought to myself. I normally like storms, they help calm me down, but for some reason this storm kept me worried, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

I got out of my bed and opened the curtains to see nothing but darkness and some occasional light from the lightning. I sat on my bed and I tried my hardest to fall back asleep but I just couldn't get rid of that feeling of mine. I decided to listen to my gut and I got out of bed and walked around the house; I opened the front door and looked outside where again I saw nothing but blackness. 'What am I doing? There is nothing there' I thought. But as I was about to shut the door I saw something; and it actually horrified me. When the lightning flashed I saw a combination of multicolored arms and legs with little stones sticking out of them. "What is that?!" I yelled as I slammed the door shut and locked both locks; I quickly ran to my room and stayed in my bed.

It was about 8AM before I realized that I hadn't slept at all and I was really tired. Debating whether to get up and face the world or risk ruining my sleep schedule even more. I decided that trying to sleep at this stage is pointless; so I got up and went to the kitchen to eat breakfast and noticed my sister was not here. 'Strange' I thought. I just shrugged it off and went to get some cereal, noticing that didn't have any.

"Well, this sucks.." I said as I went to sit on the couch.

I wonder where my sister went.. Usually she never left the house to go jogging until 9:30 at the earliest, she probably went to see if there was a school here, I didn't see one. I decided to suck it up and go back to the Big Donut and buy one or two, taking into account that I don't even like donuts I must be really desperate. But I headed to the front door anyways.

As I left my house I walked past the carwash and saw the older man with long brown hair; me being curious, 'Should I talk to him?' I shook my head, I must be going crazy. When I looked up to see what was ahead of me I saw my sister walking up the road. Honestly seeing her felt really good for some reason, probably because I am still really tired. "Hey what-" she cut me off. "Oh my, you look terrible!" Ouch. "Go back to the house and at least put on some new clothes!" Wait.. oh oops, I forgot to shower.

After my shower I put on my favorite orange shirt and a pair of light blue sweatpants; then socks and my basic white shoes. I did feel a little better, still tired but I don't feel as gross and sick. I walked to the living room where I ran into my sister laying on the couch eating a donut. "Hey, I guess you look a little more presentable today" she said shooting me a smile. "Thanks, I guess." I just shrugged and went to the door. "Where are ya heading to?" "To the Big Donut to get breakfast" she shot me this look of confusion before smiling and reaching into her light blue bag. "Here" She said handing me two croissants.

After eating breakfast I was so grateful for my sister, she knows how much I love croissants and she got me two. Apparently you can get them at the Big Donut, who would've guessed that a donut shop with a big sign that says "WE ONLY SELL DONUTS" also sells croissants? I decided to head back to the bathroom and brush my hair, or at least try to.

After I deemed myself presentable to other people I went out of my house and started to walk around the town. I didn't see much, there was a pizza place and an arcade however! I'll probably spend a lot of my time there. But I also noticed a huge beach, I have no clue on how I missed this before, after all, this is Beach City. I decided to go onto the beach and see if I could spot anything interesting.

I walked around this huge hill and there was this big statue with a house on it. Wait a house? Oh dear, I hope I'm not invading anyone's personal land. There were a lot of people behind me to I deemed it okay to be where I was; but I did distance myself a little ways away from the other people, I'm not the biggest fan of crowds.

I stopped and stared out onto the ocean and was lost in thought. Well not thought; have you ever stared off into nothingness and your mind just went blank, well that is what I was doing. Something broke my gaze though, well someone. "Heyyy!" I heard from my left. I saw that boy running in my direction. Thinking he was running to someone behind me I started to walk away. There was a lot of people in that crowd so he probably saw a friend. "Hey! Please don't go!" Okay this time I was sure he was talking to me. I stopped in my tracks and turned to face him.

When he finally caught up to me he was out of breath and bent over and leaned on his knees. "Phew, for a moment I didn't think you were going to stop" he said to me. "I'm sorry I thought you wanted someone behind me." I replied honestly. "Hey, you're new here aren't you?" I thought back to what Sadie said, where everyone here knows each other. "Yeah, I just moved here from Jersey." "That's cool!" he said with a big smile on his face. "I didn't like it the last time I flew over Jersey, too much smog." I thought back and I never realized how much smog was actually there, he was right. "My name's Steven!" he said extending his hand out to me. I smiled and shook his hand. "I'm Aleks; it's really nice to meet you Steven." He smiled even bigger than before. "Hey, maybe I can show you around the town?" even though I just looked around I decided to accept his offer. Ya know, I think I will enjoy living in Beach City.


	2. Chapter 2: The Crystal Gems

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Steven Universe, Steven Universe is owned by Rebecca Sugar!

UPDATE: This Chapter and every chapter from now on WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! Also I will be updating this story on a weekly basis every Sunday!

Chapter 2: The Crystal Gems

Yesterday was one of the best days I've had in a long while. Spending time with Steven was really fun and he had a ton of knowledge that I had no clue of; and it turns out my hypothesis was correct, that older guy was indeed Steven's dad. Steven told me how his dad used to be a musical artist before settling down and having Steven.

After showing me around the whole town it was pretty late and Steven invited me to stay over at his house. "You should come over, I'd like you to meet my family!" It turns out that Steven doesn't live with his dad. "I don't know, I have to get back to my sister and I don't do well with new people" he gave me a puzzled look. "Well you did fine with me" he smiled. I liked his smile, it was soft and comforting, a real smile. "But I understand that you have to go back to your sister." I told him about her and how much I look up to her, even though I wouldn't tell her that. "Maybe tomorrow? I won't be doing anything since I don't have to go to school." I told him. "Me too! I have a friend who goes to school, she to me how much she likes it, I thought it was boring" I smiled at him "Yeah! Come over tomorrow!" He basically shouted it at me as he raised both of his arms.

As I woke up I remembered that I promised Steven that I would head over to his house, but what I forgot to ask was what time did he want me over? I started to panic slightly but I just decided to head over at around noon. My clock tells me that it is 7:48 I was about to go get breakfast when I remembered that we just moved and hadn't bought any yet, so I just decided to take a shower.

I put on a purple shirt with a white square on the bottom of each short sleeve and dark blue sweatpants (I know my taste in fashion is very simple). I realized that I was hungry but now that I know that The Big Donut sells croissants I can just eat those instead! I walked to my living room to see my sister Olivia on her phone.

"Hey, what's up?" She said as she caught me in her peripheral. "Just about to go get breakfast from the Big Donut" I waved in her direction as I walked by her. I stopped when she tugged on my shirt. "I already got you covered" she told me as she pointed towards the kitchen. I shot her a quick smile as I headed to that part of the house.

After eating breakfast I decided it was about time I walked out to get some fresh air only to be stopped by my sister again. "Hey, what took you so long to get home yesterday?" I gave her a weird look before she continued. "You were out for quite a while." I normally tell her about my day when we lived in Jersey so why not tell her now. "I explored the town and met a few people" "Anyone worth noting?" I thought for a moment. Steven.. He is someone I would definitely note. "This boy named Steven, he is really cool." She shot me this look and I immediately knew what she was thinking. "Oh really now?" I could feel myself blush and I turned away from her. "You like him don't you!?" She shouted as she pointed in my direction. "No!" I told her defensively. Actually I didn't, I mean yes, he is cute but I still don't know anything about him. He was funny, all the jokes he told me while showing me around the town and his smile… what am I thinking?

It took me at least 20 minutes of non-stop denying to convince Olivia that I didn't like Steven in that way but I'm sure that she is still skeptical. This time when I walked away I actually made it out of the house for once. It is still really early in the morning so I imagine that Steven is still sleeping.. 'What can I do until he wakes up?' I thought to myself. "Ah-ha! The arcade!" I yelled as I remembered that this town has an arcade. A thought just occurred.. Where is the arcade again? I'll just walk around until I find it.

So I am very unlucky when it comes to this stuff, it was in the last place I checked and that was actually on the complete opposite side of town. I feel really dumb now that I've spent almost all of my morning wandering the town like an idiot looking for something I don't have an interest in doing now. 'Should I just turn back and head home?' I thought to myself. Yeah I'm just going to go home and wait the last 3 hours out. But as I turned around I saw that someone was right behind me.

"Oh, hello. Who are you?" It was a little kid and he just stared at me.

…

"My name's Aleks, it's nice to meet you" I stretched my arm out to shake his hand... But still nothing.

Okay this kid is starting to really creep me out. I actually don't know what to do, he is just staring at me with the most blank expression on his face. Should I just walk away? That would be rude but what this kid is doing I could also consider rude.

"He, I'm going to go now. Wanna tell me your name?" I asked one last time. But again he just stares at me. Okay that's enough I'm leaving.

I turned around to walk away when I looked back and noticed the kid was following me. This caused me to jump and I tripped and fell. I was now at eye level with the little kid when I noticed someone running behind us. It was Steven.

"Hey Aleks, I see you've met Onion!" He laughed nervously as he caught up to us. "Onion?" I questioned aloud and looked at the little kid. He smiled at me and nodded. "Onion's really cool once you get to know him" Steven smiled. "Onion, say hello to Aleks" Steven said to the younger boy and Onion looked at Steven and then back to me and held out his hand. After a while of being harassed by this kid I agreed to shake his hand.

After I actually got to meet Onion, we talked for a little bit and Steven gave him a hug and he ran off into some alley. "He is really weird." I said aloud. "I think it was weird for him to see a new face here. Not many new people come here" Steven responded to me. "Oh hey, I never asked you when you wanted to come over, do you want to now?" He asked me. I thought about it for a second and of course I agreed that also cuts the 3 hours I planned on waiting.

As we walked to Steven's house he stopped and turned to me. "Hey, so before you meet the Gems I should probably describe them to you." Gems? Is that what he called his family? "There are three that live with me; Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet." They're all named after actual gems? "Garnet is the leader! She has the power to see the future!" What..? "You'd like her, she's really cool" I just stared at him. "Speaking of cool; Amethyst is like an older sister to me. We get along really well and we know a lot about each other. Be careful however, it would not surprise me if she tried playing some pranks on you." He said as he winked at me. "And last but not least Pearl. She is really cool but she worries too much sometimes. The more I think about it, Pearl is the one I know the least about." That was a lot of information to take in. But I don't think I understood it all, what is with his family?

We reached his door before he turned to me one last time. "You ready?" he said excitedly. I actually didn't know what to say so I simply just nodded and he opened the door and we walked in.

At first glance his house looked almost normal, but it didn't take me long before I noticed some things. It looked like a basic wooden house with a fridge and cabinets, a furnace and a nice white couch ya know normal stuff. But look past that and I saw this hallway made of shiny white and blue crystals and a light blue door with five different colored dots forming a star. Right in front of said door was a blue pentagon with a big circle in the middle. It was really pretty.

"Wow.." I said to Steven. "Pretty cool right?" I nodded to his question. I walked in a little further and looked to my left to see a T.V., a Nintendo Gamecube, and a few games laying next to it and a window. But something caught my eye. There was a girl on his bed but something was very off with her. She had lavender skin with long white lavender hair, a white tank top with black pants and grey socks that went past her knees. I could tell because each of her knees has stars cut out.

The girl looked in our direction and waved. "Yoo Steven!" Then she saw me and immediately jumped out of the bed and slid down the stairs. "Heyy you must be that friend of Steven?" I smiled, something about her reminds me of my sister. "Hi, I'm Aleks" I reached out to shake my hand but she grabbed my hand and formed a fist and we fist bumped. "Amethyst" So this is the person Steven told me about. She turned and walked towards the other side of the house; but before she walked away I noticed that she had a purple gem in her chest, safe to assume an amethyst? "YO P! GET OUT HERE!"

It took a moment for the person that Amethyst was calling to come out but when the door opened Amethyst walked by me and shot me a side smile.

"What is it Amethyst I was doing something import-" She stopped when she saw me. "Oh" she smiled "Are you the friend Steven told us about?" So he was talking about me. "Yeah" I walked forwards to the girl and went to shake her hand. "My names Aleks" She accepted my hand shake. "My name is Pearl" This gave me plenty of time to study her. She had really pale skin with pink hair that went to the back of her head and a giant pearl on her forehead; she wore a light blue turtleneck sleeveless dress with a star in the middle and a blue clear ribbon tied at the bottom of the dress. She also had yellow short shorts and light pink socks and baby blue slippers.

Steven looked around then looked at Pearl "Hey, where's Garnet?" He asked her. "Oh; Garnet said there was a Gem Experiment causing trouble somewhere far away, so she went to take care of it." "Umm.. what's a Gem Experiment?" Pearl looked at me and said "Gem Experiments were once Gems that were shattered and forcibly fused together" "Wait Gems?" Pearl shot Steven a quick look and he shrugged. "You can probably tell that Amethyst and I aren't humans. We are a race of gem-like beings that were originally made far away to destroy the world." "Except me!" Amethyst yelled from Steven's bed. "Yes Amethyst was made here on Earth."

…

"What do these Gem Experiments look like?" "Well, they could look like anything really" Pearl answered, putter her finger on her right cheek. "Most of the time they look like multi-colored arms or legs with pieces of gemstones sticking out of one spot in the middle."

It hit me harder than I expected. All the fear and anxiety from when I saw that creature outside of my window two nights ago. They way it looked and moved, I felt my face go pale. That was the same creature I saw in Jersey, the same creature that almost killed me and Olivia. I know what it is now, a gem mutant? My head was spinning so fast I thought I was going to puke, but then everything went cold.. Everything went black...


	3. Chapter 3: Afraid

Chapter 3: Afraid

All I see is darkness, and it's still really cold.

" _Aleks!"_

Who is that?

" _Don't move I got you!"_

My head hurts, and everything feels fuzzy. I'm trying to concentrate on everything to be able to move but I can't. I actually feel kinda relaxed; like I'm on a soft bed…

Wait.

Where am I? I'm under a blanket? I'm on a really soft pillow, but it's moving. Wait, pillows don't move?

I shoot my eyes open and it was dark, it's really hard to make stuff out. I see shapes in the darkness but I can't tell where I am. What am I lying on that's moving? I slowly pulled my head up and looked down to see a soft yellow color, and when I looked up I saw Steven sleeping. I jumped a little before I put the pieces together. I must've passed out but for how long, and what time is it? I can't see anything if there even was a clock in his room.

I looked back at Steven and noticed how cute and peaceful he looks while he's asleep. But he doesn't have a blanket, isn't he cold? I grabbed the blanket around me and held it tightly. Steven took care of me while I was unconscious. I smiled before I removed the blanket from me and slowly put it on him, trying not to wake him up. After I got him in the blanket I slowly got off his bed and scrambled to find the way out of his house.

I walked outside and realized that I was missing my shoes and it was really cold. I sighed, I don't know what to do. Should I stay or should I go back in, risk waking him up to grab my shoes and leave? But my mind was still hazy and my head still hurts, it actually felt nice being outside. I felt the cold wind run over my skin and I had a cold chill. Just then, I heard the door behind me open and I turned around to see a sleepy Steven rubbing his eyes.

"Hey…" he mumbled "You're up" I looked down his porch. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that" "About what?" he asked. "About making you take care of me" I couldn't see him but I could tell he smiled at me. "Naw, that was nothing, don't worry about it." he replied to me. "Oh" he paused "You didn't bring any other pairs of cloths with you so I put you in some of my pajamas" I jumped hearing that and I could feel that I was blushing. He changed me? And I didn't even notice?

After a few minutes of silence he grabbed my hand and said in a sleepy voice. "Come back inside, it's cold out here" He walked me back inside his hold was firm but gentle, I won't lie I was still tired and the pain from my head doesn't help me. I followed him up the stairs and he walked behind his T.V. and opened a small closet and grabbed another blanket and pillow. A thought went through my mind; if he had these this whole time, why didn't grab them earlier instead letting me sleep on him?

He handed me the sleeping supplies and now that my vision is starting to better so I'm starting to see more in his house. He gave me this look of slight confusion, it was probably because he is tired, but he smiled. "In my bed silly" Hearing that I blushed but luckily he turned around and walked to his bed and got on the left half of it, then motioned me over. I slowly walked over to him and got in on the other half. We made eye contact and he quickly smiled and lied down and I soon followed after him. We were facing each other before he put his hand on my shoulder and said "Goodnight Aleks" He smiled. I hid my face lower in the blanket so he couldn't see my blush, I hate how easily he can make me do that. He let me go and I felt him turn away so I lifted my head back up and slowly fell asleep.

I rubbed my eyes as I woke up; I looked at the bed and I didn't see Steven anywhere, strange. I slowly got out of bed and remembered that I was wearing Steven's clothes so I went down stairs and could actually see now that it was bright. I looked around and found my clothes on his kitchen counter; I grabbed them and found his bathroom so I went and changed.

I put yesterdays clothes on and a thought hit me. Olivia. Oh no she is either really worried or really mad I didn't tell her that I wasn't coming home. I quickly put on my shoes and ran out of the house and down his stairs, as I got down I sprinted in the sand when my right leg was grabbed. I tripped and turned to see what grabbed me and I was horrified. A creature with 3 arms sticking out of it's torso and each arm having it's own color of red, blue, and green. And 2 legs both blue, I could count 6 shards sticking out of it's body. I couldn't move; my body tightened and I could feel myself become cold, this isn't the same one I saw before but I was still just as frightened, I was afraid.

Before I realized it there was a black rope with purple crystals wrapped around the creature and I saw Amethyst land on one of it's arms. "That's enough of you!" She yelled as she pulled tighter and the creature poofed into a cloud of steam. I watched as she landed and her whip disappeared as she walked to the fused gem on the ground and put it in a pink bubble

"Yo" She said as the turned and shot me a sly smile. I felt the color and warmth return to my skin. "A-Amethyst!" "The one and only~" she bowed and put her right hand on her hip. "I don't know how to thank you!" "Don't need to thank me, I've been chasing it for about an hour now." I sighed in relief. "And besides.." She added as I looked up at her. "I couldn't let anything bad happen to the person Steven likes" I jumped "What?" she walked up and leaned her left elbow on my shoulder, still keeping that sly smile. "Steven likes you, it's very obvious" she said as she lifted her right arm in the air. I was speechless. "He doesn't treat or talk about anyone like he does you" She leaned in closer. "You like him to, don't you?" I felt myself blush yet again so I turned my head and looked away. "C'mon you can tell me, I promise I won't tell him~" Then I remembered. 'Be careful however, it would not surprise me if she tried playing some pranks on you' Steven warned me. This must be one of her pranks. "No, I do not like him like that" I lied. I saw disappointment in her face. "Aww that sucks" She got off me and put her arms behind her head. "You two would've been cute together" she winked at me. "I have to go back to my sister!" I shouted and started running back to my house.

The closer I got to my house the more trouble I knew I was going to be in, Olivia is going to kill me. I finally reached my door and grabbed the keys from my pocket, thank goodness they were still there. I unlocked the door and slowly walked in, no sight of Olivia yet. I walked further until I reached the hallway that went to my room and I was immediately stopped by the person I was trying to avoid now.

I looked her in the eyes and was surprised to see she was actually wearing her fedora. "Hey, where have you been?" I think she saw the fear in my eyes because she then started chuckling at me. "I'm not going to hurt you I just want to know where you were" That's a relief, for a minute I was actually scared. "Oh, I stayed the night at Steven's" She put her hand to her chin, studying me. She shot me a sly smile. "Next time inform me please" she said as she ruffled my hair.

I filled her with the stuff I learned and she gave me a darker look than normal. "So that thing from Jersey… a Gem Mutant?" I nodded. "That's what Pearl told me" "So they're a rock based species?" I nodded again. She studied my face for honesty, she really good at telling if someone is lying. I saw her smile. "That's so awesome!" She yelled as she shot her fist in the air. "I have to meet them!" "Uhh.. I'll talk to Steven about it next time I see him, I'm going to shower now" She saluted me. "That's fine, if you didn't eat breakfast I went out and bought cereal yesterday "She told me as she grabbed her purse from the coat rack. "You going somewhere?" "Just going out with my friend Jenny and some of her friends" she said as she slipped on her small indigo jacket so her belly was showing. "I'll be back late tonight so feel free to hang out with Steven again" She waved and left.

After my shower I put on a basic blue shirt under my dark purple hoodie and dark blue sweatpants, I only have three different sets of clothes but like four pairs of each.

After I ate my breakfast I decided to go apologize to Steven for leaving unannounced so I grabbed my white scarf to match the weather getting colder and left the house. On my way back to Steven's I had this feeling that something was off. I got to the sand and I was almost to the spot where Amethyst saved me earlier, but then I felt the ground under me start moving. Just then; something flew out of the sand, I froze, it was another one of those Gem Mutants. Too afraid to do anything, but then something else came out of the sand. A strange woman with huge hair and big hips rose out and then two gauntlets appeared on her hands and she ripped the Gem Mutant open and it poofed. She walked over and bubbled the shattered gem fusion and then the bubble disappeared.

She turned to me and I was still slightly scared but that faded when I saw Pearl and Amethyst land behind the woman with Steven on Amethyst's back wearing a pink hoodie. "Aleks!" Steven said excitedly as he got off Amethyst's back and started running to me. "Steven" The woman said and he turned to face her. "We don't have time to play, we need to go!" I started connecting the dots, this woman must be Garnet, and if she knew what I was thinking she looked at me and nodded. "Okay but we can't leave him here it's dangerous" Steven said to her. She thought for a moment before saying "Okay, bring him with but watch over him" Steven smiled and reached his hand out to me to help me up. I grabbed his hand and smiled as he pulled me up but soon changed my expression to serious. "Is something wrong?" "The town is in trouble" Garnet said. I looked at Steven and he frowned and nodded. "Let's go Gems" Garnet said sternly, and she ran towards the town with Pearl and Amethyst following closely behind.

"Steven, what's happening?" "The town is going to be attacked" he said "We have to hurry" he said as he grabbed my hand and started running after the gems. "The town is going to be attacked? By who?" "By Corrupted Gems" Corrupted Gems? "What are those?" I asked as we made it past the Big Donut but before Steven could answer a giant green beast with olive stripes with long white hair crashed out of the "Funland Arcade" I froze; but Steven pushed me behind him and a pink shield with a rose in the middle appeared floating next to his left arm. "That" he paused. "Is a Corrupted gem"

"Stay behind me and don't move" he commanded me. I trust Steven know what he's doing but I saw a sweat drop fall on his check. The Corrupted Gem started sniffing the ground and was looking around and it turned to us. I jumped and Steven grabbed my arm with his free arm. It started slowly moving to us and I started to panic but Steven held onto my arm tighter. It stopped but kept looking in our direction, for a moment I thought we were in the clear, but I was wrong. I started sprinting at us, before I had time to react Steven pushed me onto the sand and he dodged to his left.

"Steven!" I heard Pearl yell before landing next to him and she summoned a white spear with a light blue crystal blade that twirled down to the grip. The Corrupted Gem turned to us and she aimed the spear at the gem and started firing blasts of energy at it. The gem charged at Pearl but she slid under it and swiped at its legs causing the monster to tip. She ran towards Steven and he used his shield to bounce Pearl high in the air and stabbed the beast next to it's gem on it's chest. The Corrupted Gem stopped moving and making noise when it poofed and the green square gem fell into the sand, Pearl then picked up the gem and bubbled it.

Steven ran towards me and helped me up. "Hey, you okay?" I nodded before we heard screaming to our left, Steven looked to Pearl and she nodded then ran to where the screams were. "Aleks, come on!" He said and we started following pearl. As we got there we saw a black girl with poofy hair wearing a sky blue dress strip and Steven ran to her. "Kiki!" he yelled as he kneeled to her. "Are you okay?" he asked and she nodded. "I just scraped my knee, it's not bad" Steven frowned. "Where is the rest of your family?" "Dad and Nanafua went out of town to get supplies for the shop and Jenny is out with her friend Olivia" That must be the Jenny Olivia mentioned earlier. Wait… Olivia! Oh no where is she? "Hey, do you where they are?" I spoke up. "Uhh… I think they went to the Funland Amusement park" Kiki said as I looked to Steven. "Where is that?" "On the other side of town" he informed me. I got up and started to run there before Steven stopped me. "Wait, why do you need to go there?" "Olivia is my older sister I have to find her!" Steven nodded and said "I'm coming with you" he turned and faced his house before yelling "Lion, I need you!"

We waiting for a second but it felt like minutes before a pink ring appeared in front of us and a beautiful pink lion with a heart shaped lion jumped out of the ring. Steven jumped on the lion and held out his hand to me "Come on" he said as I took his hand and got on the lion. "Lion take us to Funland Amusement Park!" The lion then looked in the direction of the park and let out a roar and another pink ring appeared and we jumped through it.

On the other side of the ring was Funland Amusement park, I got off of Lion and started looking for my sister. I ran into the park without thinking and Steven followed behind me. I noticed the the park was fairly destroyed with the ferris wheel lying on the ground. "What does your sister look like?" I don't remember what she was wearing today so I just said. "Blue eyes, long blonde hair, and is wearing a fedora" I quickly told him. "Hey there's Jenny!" He shouted and pointed to out right in the sand. I looked and saw the girl he was pointing to, but next to her I saw someone else lying on the ground. There was no mistaking it, that is Olivia. "Olivia!" I yelled as I jumped over the wooden fence that stops people from falling.

I caught up to Jenny with tears in my eyes and asked her "What happened to her?" "This huge beast thing ran through the park and started destroying the place and one of the houses fell on her!" Jenny yelled with tears swelling in her eyes. Olivia had this dark purple bruise on her side. "I can heal her!" Steven said and Jenny and I both looked at Steven in confusion. He walked to my sister and got on his knees. Steven rubbed his hands together and licked his left hand before placing it on my sister's bruise. "Steven?" I asked but as I did he moved his hand away and his slobber sparkled as her bruise faded away. I was confused but since I met the Gems I'm trying not to question things; Steven can do magical stuff too, is he a Gem also?

I looked at Steven and was about say something when a Corrupted Gem came out of the water and charged us. No one had time to react as it rammed into us we all got separated. "Jenny, take Olivia and Aleks and get out of here!" Steven shouted. Jenny nodded and picked up my sister and called out for me, "Aleks, you have to get out of here!" I looked at Steven and said "No! Steven I can't leave you here alone!" The monster started running at me but Steven made it to me first and a huge pink bubble blocked the way between us and the gem as I fell to my knees. "Aleks please, I don't want you getting hurt" I looked up to him, made eye contact and his eyes sparkled. "What about you?" I asked. "Don't worry about me" She smiled. "I'm a Crystal Gem too" He lifted his shirt and I saw a pink gem where his belly button should be.

I looked back at him and nodded but before I got out of his bubble the Gem rammed into us again and we went flying into the wooden pillars holding up the park. Steven's bubble popped when we crashed into the pillars. I was stunned for a short period of time, but as I got up the Gem kicked me and I hit my head on another pillar. All I heard was a sharp ringing as my vision went hazy and blurry. I heard Steven yell something before I heard nothing and my vision went black.

AUTHORS NOTE: No! Every chapter won't end like this!


	4. Chapter 4: Protection

Chapter 4: Protection

 _Aleks!_

I shot open my eyes to a wall of fire and falling wood, but I swear I heard someone calling my name. I looked around, but all I can see is smoke and fire.

"Just stay there and don't move! I'm coming to get you!"

I heard a very familiar voice and it sounded like it was all around me but I can't tell who's voice it is. "Who's there?" I yelled. "Aleks, move!" I heard but I took me a minute to register what they said. I looked up and saw what they were talking about and I tried to move but I wasn't fast enough. A piece of flaming wood fell on me and I felt excruciating pain in right leg, I quickly moved the wood of my leg and I saw I was burned.

I could see a figure in the distance but I couldn't make out features on them. "It'll be okay! I'm on my way!" Before I had time to react I saw Olivia jump over the wall of fire. "Aleks I got you!" "O-Olivia!" I barely managed to stutter. "It's okay just follow me." I did as I was told and followed her out of the flame infested area. We made it outside and it was so dark it would have been pitch black but the fire and the red and blue lights proved otherwise. "Olivia… where is dad?" I said while having trouble breathing. She shot me a look of disappointment hugged me tightly. "I don't know, that coward probably left us" I understood and buried my head into her arms.

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The ringing came back and I slowly opened my eyes to see Steven and Amethyst fighting the Corrupted Gem. I tried to get up but I couldn't move my leg and all I felt is numbness. 'Steven!' I tried to yell but when I opened my mouth nothing came out. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, I couldn't even feel anything. Amethyst got the advantage on the creature and was able to wrap her whip around it, her and Steven both pulled on her whip and the Gem poofed.

Steven looked back at me and said something, however I couldn't make out what he was saying, I just stared at him blankly. He ran over to me and reached out his hand, I tried to grab it but when I moved my hand from the position it was in before I collapsed. I could barely keep my eyes open but I could see him turn to Amethyst and say something to her before she nodded and ran off in the other direction. Steven then picked me up and put me on his back as he carried me somewhere. At this time I didn't care, I didn't feel any stress on my body and I closed my eyes and slowly drifted to sleep.

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I woke up to the sound of thunder in the distance. I got up slowly and realized that I was once again in Steven's bed. I tried to move but I felt my leg throb and I could tell that I wasn't moving anytime soon. I lifted myself into a sitting position and looked to my left, I could still see the sun but it was obvious it was setting and I could see the rain falling from the window. "Hey you're up"

I looked to my right and I saw Steven sitting on the corner couch looking up in my direction, he got up and started walking towards me. "Yeah" I said softly. "That's good, you scared me earlier" he said with a look of sadness in his eyes. "Oh… I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to scare you" "I know" he said as he sat down next to me. I looked at the window again and asked "What happened? Is Olivia okay?" He nodded at me. "We got all the Corrupted Gems and Olivia is with Jenny and Kiki" "That's good" I said at I looked at the blanket. He saw a nervous sweat drop run down the side of my head. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked. I don't know how I feel right now, that memory I had earlier about the fire, thinking about it haunts me. Not knowing what to do in this situation I nodded my head without looking at him, but Steven caught me in my bluff. "Are you sure, you look like you're worried about something?" I decided 'what is the point of hiding it from him' I looked him in the eye and told him the reason why we moved here.

"Let me start from the beginning" I paused. "Olivia and I used to live with our mom and our dad, everything was happy, and we were happy." He looked at me and smiled, but his smile faded when I continued. "About 6 years ago our mom got really sick and we didn't have enough money to take her to a hospital. Three months later she passed away from her disease." I grabbed my left arm with my right. "After that, our dad started drinking… a lot. It got to the point that when he was home he was always either drunk or passed out" Steven put his hand on my shoulder. "One day, about 10 months after mom died, our dad took something to the extreme. He asked Olivia to grab a beer from the fridge, but Olivia refused saying that she wanted nothing to do with him drinking. I thought of how strong willed she was, I could never stand up to him like that. But her doing that only made things worse for the both of us, I watched as he slapped her to the ground and kicked her in the stomach" I felt myself tear up and I griped the blanket. "There was nothing I could do… I was to afraid, I was too weak to help her. He said 'Don't ever talk back to me like that again' and her kicked her again." I paused again. "After that every time we did something without his approval or permission, he beat us to the point that our entire side would be bruised or cut up. This went on for a long time, it was only two weeks ago that one of the Gem Mutants was in Jersey and somehow got into our apartment. Olivia and I saw it, we went to tell our father about it but it attacked us. It destroyed our oven and broke a gas pipe, it caused the whole house to catch on fire. Olivia made it out before me and I got trapped when the house started falling apart. Olivia said that she saw our dad run out of the house and that he said that he was 'going to get help' but he never came back. It was Olivia who saved my life and got me out."

"Aleks" He griped my shoulder tighter. "I'm sorry" He hugged me and I could feel a wet spot forming on my shoulder… was he crying? I'm not in a mood to react to his gesture, I'm still trying my hardest not to cry myself. He pulled back and looked me in the eyes and it confirmed my theory that he was crying. "That's so horrible, how could someone do something like that?" I broke the eye contact and looked down at the blanket. My head is still hurting, I would've probably hugged him back but the pain is causing me to not think straight. "But it's okay now, I can protect you Aleks, I want to protect you" I know he meant well but hearing those words did something to me. I jerked away from him and hugged my knees. "I don't to be someone who has to be protected!" I shouted. "I'm tired of being weak, I'm tired of being a liability to everyone…"

Steven looked at me shocked, I obviously upset him. "Steven, I'm sorr-" I was cut off when Steven forced me into a hug. "No Aleks, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you like that" This time I hugged him back and said "You didn't offend me, I overreacted" he pulled away and waiting a moment before asking me. "Hey, do you want me to help you get stronger?" I looked at him curiously, what was on his mind? "What do you mean?" I asked. "Pearl, she taught my friend Connie to how to fight with us" "Fight with you guys?" "She taught Connie how to use a sword and how to protect others" he told me this but I don't know if I can even learn this. "To fight with a sword?" "What about swords now?" I heard a voice behind us.

Steven and I turned around to see my sister Olivia leaning in the open doorway with Amethyst to her right. "O-Olivia!" I said as I jumped further into the bed out of panic. "How long were you there?" "Just got here actually" She shot me a playful smile that changed into a stern look. "Heard about fighting with swords however, care to tell me about that?" I went cold, Olivia and I are close but she could fool most people into thinking she is a heartless mother of she wanted. "I-I don-" I looked at Steven for assistance and he quickly noticed my distraught and spoke up. "My friend Pearl!" he shouted. I saw Olivia turn her attention to him. "Pearl is a master with many weapons and she can teach him to fight." Olivia glanced at me then back to Steven. "Why would she be doing that?" Olivia asked. "You and Aleks could of died today, he wants to protect you" There was a pause in the house for a while before Olivia said. "Sorry to disappoint you little brother" There was another pause and I decided to say something. "But Olivia" I was cut off by her saying "You didn't let me finish" I waited this time. "You won't need to be protecting me Aleks" she looked me in the eyes with a sly smile. "Because if you are going to do some training, I'm doing it too."

Words can't explain how shocked I am to be hearing this, she wants to learn how to fight too? Actually; now that I think about it this isn't that surprising, fighting magical monsters? This is something that would be right up her alley. "You're sure?" I asked her. "Of course!" She shouted as her and Amethyst walked towards us. "Yeah dude, this is going to be awesome!" Amethyst shouted as her and Olivia fist bumped. Is it safe to assume that Amethyst and my sister are like best buds already?

Pearl and Garnet entered the house and Pearl walked over to us. "Garnet told me you guys wanted to ask me something?" She said. Wait, how did Garnet know we wanted to ask her something? Steven jumped up and ran to Pearl grabbing her by the hand and taking her to the kitchen area, and Olivia followed him. I looked over to Amethyst and tapped her on the shoulder and she turned to me with a smile on her face. "What's up dude?" I grabbed my left arm with my right and asked her. "Hey, can we talk outside for a sec?" She gave me a weird look but shrugged and started heading for the door and I closely followed.

We made it outside and I immediately felt the cold air hit my face as I remembered that it was dark outside. She walked down his stairs and down the hill before leaning up against the stone wall. "What did you want to talk about?" She asked as I walked next to her, still holding my left arm. "I was thinking about what you said earlier today" She looked at me before saying "Wait… what did I say again?" I looked down and felt myself start to blush before I said "About Steven… liking me" She started to laugh at me and I jumped, that wasn't the response I was expecting. "I know, I know, I'm just messing with you, what about it?" She asked as she leaned towards me. "I'm starting to think you're right, he does act surprisingly nice to me" She shot me another sly smile and leaned her left arm on me. "I told you, what, do you like him back?" That question made me jump and I can feel my anxiety start to kick in, "I- I don't know… I think so" She jumped in the air and raised her fist. "Ah-ha! I knew it!" I jumped at her sudden change in tone, "You can't tell him!" "Why not?" She snapped her fingers. "Because I want to make sure before I go any further" She looked at me and chuckled. "Trust me I understand how that feels" She looked up to the star. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me" I smiled at her and lifted her fist towards me. I nodded and bumped my fist into hers.

We heard the door open and we looked up to see Pearl and Olivia standing and looking at us. "Come on Aleks, get some rest" I shot her a look of confusion. "Why, what's up?" It was dark but I could still see her bright smile. "Because tomorrow, we start Pearl's training~!"

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 **Author's Note:** Sorry for this chapter being short! I actually forgot that I didn't finish it and had to rush it yesterday :P It didn't turn out how I wanted but it still works for me and leads into the next chapter! :D


	5. Chapter 5: Accident

Chapter 5: Accident

*3 weeks later*

It has been about three weeks since we started Pearl's training and it is safe to say… I've gotten nowhere. I've tried three different weapons, spent about a week on each, and I can't find one that suits me. Pearl first tried to train us with swords but Olivia decided only after a day that a sword isn't for her.

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"What do you mean by 'you can't use a sword'?" Pearl asked. "I'm saying that the sword just isn't my style" Olivia responded. She put her hand on her chin as she thought. "What other things can you teach me in?" Pearls eyes lit up after hearing those words. "I'm so glad you asked" she said as she clapped her hands together and her gem started glowing. A light blue projection came from her gem showing a bunch of different weapons. "I have the skill to teach you in swords, spears, a mace, nun-chucks, ans-" she was cut off by Olivia when she saw what she wanted to use in the hologram. "That" she pointed in a specific spot. "Can you teach me how to use a bow?"

Pearl looked at the ground in thought for a moment and said. "When I fuse with Amethyst, Opal's weapon is a bow, I don't see why I can't teach you" She looked up and gave a determined smile.

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That was, of course, about three weeks ago and she's made incredible progress. Just yesterday she was given a gem powered bow by Pearl. Because of her progress, Pearl thought it would be better for her to move onto a stronger, more complex weapon. This bow doesn't use any arrows, instead, it makes a orange glow forming the string, and all she has to do is pull it back and an arrow forms. Pearl told her that this gem powered bow might be able to connect to Olivia's energy and when that happens she'll be able to control the arrow in mid-air and change its direction completely. However she said it is unlikely because she isn't a gem. And in my case, Pearl wants me to keep trying the sword since I'm worse with a bow and a spear.

"It's okay Aleks, I'm sure you'll get it eventually" I snapped back to reality as Steven placed his hand on my shoulder. I tugged on my purple jacket and the cold air seemed to be in a rhythm. I looked at him in his light pink jacket, his hair blowing in the cold wind and smiled. "Thanks" is all I said before looking back at the sand we were sitting on.

I sighed, Pearl's training starts in about an hour, Olivia and Amethyst are out there doing who knows what, and Garnet and Pearl are out on a mission. I heard Steven shudder and I looked over to him and he's holding his knees and I could see him shake. "Do you wanna head back inside? You look cold" He looked over to me and smiled. "I'm not cold, I'm just not used to the cold weather" I can tell he's lying to me, he knows that I love the cold air but he doesn't want to admit that he's cold. I leaned over to my right, where he was, and removed my scarf and wrapped it around him. I looked at him and smiled, he smiled back but quickly put the lower half of his face into the scarf.

I looked out into the ocean and admired the waves. After about two minutes of silence I feel a tug on my right arm, I turned to see Steven with his hand griped on my jacket. "Do you wanna go inside now?" I asked softly. He nodded and I smiled, it always gets me that Steven is so strong and brave but he is also very caring, gentle, and sensitive. I got up and reached my hand out to help him, he grabbed my arm and I pulled him up and we started walking to his house.

When we opened the door we could feel the temperature shift to a warmer one, but one that was still cold. "I'm going to start a fire" Steven said as he took off his boots and walked up the stairs and to his closet. I walked over and sat down on his couch on the corner part as I heard the closet door shut. I looked up and saw him walking down the stairs holding six pieces of firewood. "Do you want any help?" I asked as I got up and walked to him. "Naw, I got it" he said with ease. I just sat back down and watched as he put three in the fire place and sat the remaining three to the side. He went over to the kitchen and opened a drawer to get a lighter and he lit the fire. "Better" he said as he rubbed his hands together and breathed on them. He turned and sat down next to me in the corner area. It isn't much but I can start to feel the difference that the fire was making.

It hit me that I'm sitting in an uncomfortable position and I could tell Steven also noticed, I started to shift my body away so I can sit more comfortably and Steven also started to move to help me. I've just about got a comfy spot when I felt my hand slip and I started to fall, I quickly closed my eyes and tried to brace myself for impact but Steven reached out his hand to grab mine. I wasn't expecting this and instead of him pulling me back up, I accidentally pulled him down with me.

After the impact it took me a few seconds to collect my thoughts but when I did I could feel something pressing against me. I opened my eyes to directly meet Steven's eyes. I saw the look of shock in his eyes, 'why does he have that?' I thought before realizing that my lips were connected to his and I quickly felt the same fear and shock as him. We just sat here, not moving, a millions thoughts racing through my head. 'How did this happen?' I could feel my whole body start to tense up. 'Why isn't pulling away?' … 'Why aren't I pulling away?'

After about a full minute of neither of us moving I saw Steven's eye's start to calm down, like he finally understood the situation we're in. He was in full control of his actions, however I'm still freaking out and can't move. Steven closed his eyes and pressed his lips harder against mine and I, still panicking, just accepted it and closed my eyes.

I can feel the world slow down and everything starting to melt around us. It feels like we entered our own world where we are by ourselves, I don't know if I want to continue, but I don't know if I want it to end either. I started to feel safe again, safe and secure; and I don't know how long we've been here but it had to of been at least 3 minutes. Soon, all of that quickly turned to fear. I don't know how we didn't hear his door open, we must of been in a deeper trance than I though. I heard a whistle before hearing "You go boys!" Steven and I panicked and broke the kiss at the same time, out of breath, we looked up to see Amethyst with her arms crossed smiling.

"A-Amethyst?" Steven said. We looked back at each other and I felt myself start to blush. "I-I" I can't form any words, my anxiety is rising faster than normal and my face feels like it's on fire. I have it, I don't for how long, but I can control myself again. Without thinking I shoved Steven off of me and scrambled to sit up. "I-I… I'm sorry!" I yelled as I stood up and ran as quickly as I could out his door. The cold air hit me like a rock and without looking back I kept running, it became a lot harder when I reached the sand. Even in my shoes, running in the sand isn't an easy thing to do. As I ran by the Big Donut I heard Sadie say "Hey Aleks!" but I didn't stop. I'm on an autopilot state, if I had complete control of my body again I would've stopped to greet her, but I don't. All these thoughts still racing through my head, 'why did Steven go further?' and why didn't I stop him? I could've stopped him, then Amethyst wouldn't of caught us and we wouldn't be in this situation.

I finally made it to my house and I was almost completely out of breath and exhausted. I could see my breath with every exhale. I stumbled to get my keys from my right pocket but once I did I quickly unlocked my house, ran in and shut and locked the door. I didn't even move once I got in, I couldn't move. I'm just standing here, in one spot. It all hit me at once and I could feel my face blushed even harder than before and I can feel tears starting to swell in my eyes. I slowly slid down my door and hugged my knees and buried my face in them.

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I don't how long I've been sitting here but I can tell it's been a while. I slowly lifted my head and looked at my tear stained dark grey pants and I lost all motivation to move. I just can't bring myself to get up and face the world again.

 _Knock knock_

What? Someone is at the door?

"Aleks!"

I could never forget the voice that's calling out to me.

"Aleks! Please answer me!"

I hugged my knees tighter; he doesn't know I'm directly on the other side of the door.

There was a pause of silence, did he leave? I don't know how I feel, half of me wants him to stay away from but the other half wants him to never leave. There was a thud at the door before I heard Steven say "Please Aleks, I know you hear me…" Should I respond? He knows that I'm listening to him, maybe it would be best to respond. "Aleks…" I barely heard him that time but I know what I heard. "I'm here" I said softly but loud enough so he heard me. "Aleks!" "Hey" I just responded through the door. "Aleks, please let me in… I want to see you" Hearing these words crushed me, I don't know how to respond, so I didn't.

"Aleks… I-" There was a pause. "Aleks, I really like you" … "And I can understand if you don't like me the same way" I- I just can't, I don't know how to respond. "But Aleks… I hope that we can at least stay friends after this, I don't want to lose you" Okay, hearing those words gave me the courage to stand up and open the door to face him.

I unlocked and swung the door open as fast as I could and wrapped my arms around his waist and buried my head in his neck. I couldn't control my sobs as I tried to speak. "I-I… I…" I can't form any words, but I don't think I need too. I felt Steven hug me and started to rub my back. "Hey, it's okay" After hearing that I started to feel myself calm down as my sobs became tamer. I started to control my breathing as he continued to rub my back. I pulled away to the point we were still holding each other but I could make eye contact with him, and I'm sure I looked terrible right now after all the crying I've been doing. "I really like you too Steven"

There was a small pause but he smiled and reached his hand to my face and whipped my remaining tears away. "Also, sorry it took me awhile to get here, I had to explain to Amethyst" I actually forgot about Amethyst. "I- what did she say?" Steven chuckled. "She just said that she's been waiting for this moment" I blushed. "I also told her what personal space is and she scolded me because we were in the living room" "Your room wouldn't of been much better" I mentioned. Steven gave a small laugh and I looked at the ground and his smile quickly faded. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked. I tried to make eye contact but when I did I almost immediately looked back at the ground. "So… what does this make us?" I asked him. He put his left hand to his chin before saying, "I think this makes us a couple, if you want?" I smiled and hugged him tighter, "Yeah" is all I said.

After about another minute of hugging Steven suddenly pulled away. "Oh man, we're going to be late" he said. "Late?" I questioned. "Remember, you and Olivia have training with Pearl in about 5 minutes" I did forget that I have to train with Pearl. "We have to run" I said. Steven grabbed my hand and pulled me down the road to his house.

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We made it to Steven house completely out of breath after running the whole way there. And of course Pearl and Olivia were already there waiting for us. Speaking of waiting for us; as I walked into the house, still out of breath, I looked over to my left to see Amethyst sitting of Stevens bed giving us a sly smile. I can tell I blushed just by looking at her. I looked over to Pearl and she said, "Where were you two? You both were almost late" How do I respond to them? What should I say? "We-" I was cut off. "There was something suspicious of the other side of town, they went to go check it out" Amethyst spoke up. I looked at her in confusion before she said, "I told you guys it was probably just Onion again doing his usual stuff, was I right?" I get it now. "Ohh yeah, just Onion being Onion ya know" Steven said giving a nervous laugh. Pearl looked Steven in the eye, then me, then Amethyst. "hmm… All right, if you say so" She started walking to the warp pad and Steven sighed as Amethyst jumped off the bed and landed next to us. "Thanks Amethyst" Steven said. Amethyst put her arms around our necks. "Don't worry guys, I'll keep your little secret" I looked at Steven and we both blushed. "Aleks, Steven, you coming?" Olivia yelled from the warp pad. Amethyst let go of us. "Yeah, we're coming" I yelled back as we ran to the warp pad.


	6. Chapter 6: Pearl's Training

Chapter 6: Pearl's Training

The warp pad took us the to Gem Ruins, Steven told me how him and Amethyst fought here once to try to prove that they were the worst and not the other. That's probably the most ridiculous reason to start a fight I have ever heard. I followed Pearl and Olivia up the stairs while they talked about something. I don't know what, I'm not paying too much attention to them, but I think it's something about battle strategies. As we walked up the stairs I couldn't help but stop to study the 4 colored diamond shapes on the wall. There was a white, yellow, blue, and a pink one, I've been meaning to ask Steven about it and see if he knows what they are but I keep forgetting.

"Hey Aleks, you coming?" I looked behind me to see Steven waiting for me at the top of the stairs. "Oh yeah" I could ask him right now, but after what happened today I'd rather wait until tomorrow at the earliest. As I walked up the stairs he reached out his hand, I smiled and took it as he helped me up. He started walking to the training area and we saw Pearl lead Olivia to the middle of the ruins. Steven went to sit down in the rows of seats and I followed behind him.

"So Olivia, did you do what I told you last night?" I tilted my head in confusion. Olivia brushed aside her baby blue jacket aside and put her right hand on her hip. "I think I did it right, but I still can't open it" She reached into her left jacket pocket and pulled out a small white pole with a sharp, but small, right triangle orange gem in the bottom middle and an orange crystal pattern that swirled around it. Pearl took it from Olivia and examined it. She walked further away from us and motioned Olivia to follow her.

I stopped paying attention to them and looked towards the ground. I can't stop thinking about what happened today. Steven kissed me, I ran away, and he chased after me. I can feel my face starting to become hot with embarrassment and I tugged on my unzipped jacket and pulled it higher to my face to try and hide my oncoming blush. I can feel my body starting to stiffen and I started to shake.

"Aleks?"

I jumped when a hand was placed on my shoulder, knocking me back into reality. I looked to my right and saw Steven with a concerned look on his face. "Are feeling you okay?" My mind went blank and I just continued to stare at him, and I probably looked like and idiot. Our silence was broken by Pearl calling my name.

"Aleks, let's get you started while I talk to your sister!" She called out to me. I quickly shook my head, stood up and ran to her, leaving Steven behind.

I walked next to her and she leaned down to me. "So, what do you want to try this week?" I felt a rush of guilt hit me, I feel like I'm wasting her and Olivia's time by not getting this. I held my hands behind my back, I don't know what I should do. Maybe I should try the sword again? That was the easiest of the three that I did try. I looked up to her before saying "Can I try the sword again?" "Of course" she said and gave me a small smile.

Pearl stepped back from Olivia and I as the gem on her forehead started to glow. A small sword with a diamond shaped tip and a cloth handle with a golden guard started to form out of her gem and she handed it to me. I grabbed it and held it close to me. "Now I'm going to start you small with a level one training Holo-Pearl" she said as her gem started to glow again, this time forming a hologram shaped like her. She too gave it a sword just like mine. _"Do you wish to engage in combat?"_ The Holo-Pearl said. Perl looked at me and waved her hand at me telling me to 'continue'. "Uhh… training level one" I said to it. _"Training mode initiated, level one begin!"_ It said as it got into a fighting pose, I followed after it. I remember what to do, watch my feet and stance. _"Parry, parry, thrust!"_ I blocked all of it's offensive attacks, this is actually pretty easy, as long as I don't trip and keep blocking, level one should end soon, _"Parry, parry, thrust!" "Parry, parry, thrust!" "Parry, parry, thrust!"_

I glanced over to Pearl and Olivia so try and hear what they were talking about. And without my surprise I couldn't, the Holo-Pearl pushed me far enough back where they were just out of earshot. I also doesn't help hearing 'parry, parry, thrust!' over and over again.

I shook my head, Pearl told me that I had to concentrate on this, or I could get hurt. Steven told me some stories about the gems and what can happen to them. He told me how Pearl was teaching him to sword fight but she stopped paying attention to the hologram and ended up getting impaled. Just thinking about it makes me shudder. I can't even imagine how Steven must of felt, to watch one of his closest friends get stabbed and to think that she died.

I looked at the Holo-Pearl, maybe I could go to level two? I mean, this is really easy.

"Uhh.. Maybe we can go a little higher?" I asked it. _"Understood, training level 9 begin!"_ Wait… what? "That's not what I asked for?" The Holo-Pearl's eyes started to glow a bright red and it caught me off guard as it suddenly lunged at me. I panicked but I managed to block the swift jab. I felt the wind brush by me and through my hair, if I wasn't trying to fend for my life I would stop to appreciate it.

"Wahoo! Go Aleks!" I heard as I looked behind me to see Steven with both of his arms up swinging his legs back and forth on the seats. I smiled, knowing that Steven has faith in me gives me a lot of happiness. I returned my attention to the Holo-Pearl and tried to launch my own attack. However my attack was quickly blocked and I was pushed back. Walking backwards trying to regain my footing the hologram charged at me again, but this time I could only dodge.

I fell and rolled a few feet on the ground before I was able to push myself back up. I looked over to the hologram as it looked at me. _"Defense rank D, openings detected!"_ It said as it started running back to me. I tried to get on my feet as fast as I could but I wasn't fast enough. It jumped really high and pointed it's sword down at me. As I braced myself for an impact I felt something weird around me. I opened my eyes and saw a bright pink bubble completely around me. The bubble popped and the Holo-Pearl went flying back before shattering and disappearing.

"Okay!" Steven said as he dragged out the 'oh'. "That's enough of that for today" He looked over to Pearl, who apparently didn't see any of that, and called out to her. "Heyyy, Pearl!" She looked over here. "Yes, Steven?" "I'm going to take Aleks somewhere for a while, is that okay?" I could see her put her hand on her chin as the thought, she looked over to me and probably noticed the look of confusion I had on my face. She waved us off as she said "Well, alright" Steven shot me a smile as he grabbed my hand and said. "Follow me!" He started running off and dragged me with him, he is actually really hard to keep up with.

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The feeling of the cold beams around us gave me chills as we warped to the destination Steven wanted to take me. "You excited?" he gave me a small smile as he asked. "I mean, I don't know what to expect" I shrugged. He just kept his smile and looked forward.

After a little while of waiting the beams of light became brighter and evaporated into the air as we arrived at our destination. "We're here!" Steven shouted as he stepped off the warp pad. I followed and took a look around. "Where are we exactly?" I asked. When I looked around all that was there was grassy hills and some trees. "Well, we aren't there just yet" He paused. "Follow me" He said as he started walking forwards towards a hill.

As we walked up the hill I started to notice somethings starting to appear in my vision. I saw to my upper left, a cornfield that seem to last for a while. To my right, I can see… a red barn? At least, I think it's a barn? It has a silo sticking out of it's left side and a truck out of the middle right above the frame. I looked up at the truck to see a small green triangle with a chip in it.

"Heyy! Peridot? Lapis? You guys here?" Steven suddenly yelled, causing me to jump. "Peridot and Lapis?" I asked. But before Steven had time to answer I heard someone yell back. "Steven? Is that you?" I heard it come from the truck and I looked up to see someone with lime-green skin and olive color hair shaped like a triangle. She also had a small nose, and what appeared to be a visor on her eyes and she had a green gem shaped like an upside down triangle on her forehead. "Yeah Peridot, it's me" "Yoo, Steven, Aleks!" Behind Peridot was a voice that was very familiar.

"Amethyst?" Steven asked. "Yup, that's my name" Amethyst responded as she stood up and leaned her arm on Peridot's shoulder. Peridot looked to Amethyst, then back to Steven and then to me. "Steven, who IS that?" She asked. After she said that I realized I had grabbed my left arm at some point and I started to feel nervous. Steven put his right hand on my left shoulder before saying, "Peridot, this is Aleks" he paused and turned to me, "Aleks, this is Peridot" he said as he extended his other hand towards her while smiling. Amethyst removed her arm from Peridot as she walked closer to me and reached out her hand in order to shake mine. "Hello, Aleks" I smiled and accepted the friendly gesture. "Hello Peridot, it's nice to meet you"

As Peridot let go of my hand I heard something coming from the barn, I looked over there as the noise got louder. "What is that?" I asked. It sounded like… a dog? As soon as I thought that a dog ran out of the barn and bumped its head into Peridot's leg. That dog looks weird, is it… is it a pumpkin? I looked to Steven as he bent down to it. "Hey girl" he said as he reached his hand out to pet it. The… dog? Whatever it is… started freaking out when Steven got close to it, causing Steven to jump back a little bit. I leaned to Steven before asking him, "What is that?" "It's a pumpkin dog that I grew" I looked at the pumpkin for a few seconds before saying "You made that?" He smiled and looked back at me. "Yeah, I also once made an army of 'Watermelon Stevens'" I gave him a confused look but asked him, "Why does that dog hate you so much?" He laughed nervously before responding "I may have carved a pumpkin in front of her" I paused for a moment before I heard Amethyst start laughing, not to long after I felt myself doing the same.

After a minute of Amethyst and I laughing Peridot cut us and said "That brute Steven cut up a poor pumpkin in front of her" She said as she picked up the dog and held it close to her. Steven again laughed nervously before asking, "Hey, where's Lapis?" There was a pause of silence before Peridot responded "I may of accidentally joked about Jasper in front of her" "Ohhh" I heard Steven say. "Who's Jasper?" I asked aloud. Peridot and Amethyst looked to the ground and Amethyst kicked a rock before walking away. "Jasper was another Quartz gem" "Like Amethyst?" I asked and Steven nodded. "Except she was the perfect Quartz" Amethyst extended the sound in her 'perfect' and walked off into the cornfield. "Amethyst…" Peridot said before chasing after her. "Jasper hurt Amethyst and Lapis a lot" He paused and put his hand over his gem. "What happened to her?" I asked. "I tried to help her" He paused again. "She become corrupted" Steven sighed. "I wanted to help her, but she refused my help because she thought I was my mom"

As soon as Steven was done something flew over us and landed next to the barn.

 **Author's Note:** Okay, so this chapter sucks, like really bad. It took me 2 weeks to write this AND was my shortest chapter! I can't even begin to explain the struggle with writing this one! It also didn't help me that school has been starting to get really difficult, even more so now that I am working to graduate early. Also I have a job now so I've been working with that. Please, follow my twitter, I will be posting updates on this story over the week and if something comes up where I can't update it I'll tweet about it AND update my bio here to confirm. Also check my bio for additional information. ALSO, shout out to my editor Ethan! Without him this story would look waaaaay worse then it does already! Have a wonderful day and sorry for no update last week! c:


	7. Chapter 7: Cure

Chapter 7: Cure

We stood there as a girl landed next to us, her wings, long and made of water returned to her tear drop shaped gem. Her skin was a light shade of blue and her hair was a darker color, ocean blue, but it matched her dress. She wore a ocean blue dress that went to her knees and a light blue band around her waist, the same color of her skin, and in the middle of her dress, it seemed to form a diamond out of an even darker blue. I also noticed that she didn't wear any shoes; I thought they all wore shoes?

Her landing actually scared me so I grabbed onto Steven's arm, "Steven, who is that?" Steven opened his mouth to answer, but before he got the chance to answer I was hit with something that had powerful force. I felt pain for a few seconds before opening my eyes, I noticed that I was being lifted at least twenty feet in the air by… a water hand?

"Don't touch him!" The girl yelled. I looked to Steven and saw him running to the girl with his hands foreword. "Nooo Lapis, put him down!" Steven yelled. She looked at him and then back at me before gently putting me down. Steven ran to me and the girl slowly followed him. Steven, once he got to me, put his hand on my shoulder and helped me up. "Are you okay?" he asked me. I looked at him and nodded, "Yeah, I'm okay" before I turned and looked at the girl. "Lapis, is it?" She stared at me blankly before nodding.

Lapis got closer to me and bent down to be at my eye level before asking me "Who are you?" Honestly, I'm kinda reluctant to answer her, I mean, she did just almost kill me with water. I looked at Steven and he smiled. "This is Aleks" he paused. "My boyfriend" Hearing those words made me want to look away because I could tell I was blushing but I just looked to Lapis and gave her a shy smile. Lapis smiled back. "Any friend of Steven's is a friend of mine"

"Lapis…" Steven said as he walked to her. "Are you doing okay?" he asked her. Lapis looked at the ground, hugging both of her arms, shaking her head. "I- I just don't want to talk to Peridot right now" "Do you want to tell me about it?" She looked at Steven when he asked her, and then she looked at me, keeping her slanted eyes on me she reluctantly said "fine"

Lapis started walking to the far end of the back of the barn and I followed Steven when he walked after her. She stopped and leaned at the end of the barn as she turned to Steven with her arms crossed. Steven walked next to her before asking "What happened?" After a long pause, Lapis broke eye contact with him and looked at the ground before sighing. "Peridot kept saying how much of a clod Jasper was, and that she deserved what happened to her" Steven walked closer to her and put his hand on her arm. Lapis looked at Steven and gave him a small but forced smile. "It's just-" Lapis was cut off by a voice behind us. "Lapis! Where were you?" I turned behind me and to see Peridot run past me to Lapis and Steven.

Lapis gave Peridot a sour look before looking is the opposite direction of her. "What do you want?" Lapis asked coldly. Peridot flinched by Lapis' cold voice but responded with "I- I wanted t- to apologize for" Peridot paused and was about to speak but Lapis cut her off. "I don't want to hear it" "But Lapi-" "No! You don't understand what I went through! You don't know what we had!" Lapis yelled causing all of us to flinch. We all just stared at her. Tears started to form in Lapis' eyes as she looked away from us and started to blush a dark blue before her water wings formed behind her and she took off.

…

We're just sitting here in silence, after Lapis left, no one moved from their spots. However, not too long after, there was a small jingle that came from Steven. We looked at him as he took out his phone and looked at the screen. "Oh no" He sighed before looking at me. "I forgot about Connie!" He shouted as he ran to me and pulled my arm and ran to the warp pad. "What? Connie?" I asked. "I was going to surprise you because she was coming over this weekend… but I forgot she was" he said as we kept running.

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The light blue colors of the warp pad disappeared around us as we appeared in Steven's house. Steven walked off the warp pad first and I followed him to his door. He ran and looked at his window, I assume to see if he can find his friend. He got on his corner couch and leaned on the window. _BANG!_ There was a loud thud. As Steven fell off of the couch I saw a darker skinned girl with a washed out red hat, placed backwards on her head with both of her hands on the window sticking her tongue out at Steven.

."Connie" Steven stretched out her name. I could hear her laughing really hard behind the glass window and it started to make me laugh at Steven too. I looked up at Connie and she started to calm down, "I'm sorry Steven, I got you good though" she said as she wiped away a tear from her eye. "Yeah, ha-ha, very funny" Steven said as he got up and let her in the house. When Connie walked into the house I got a better look at her. She has long dark brown hair that braided together at the bottom. She had a light sky blue sleeveless shirt with blue jean shorts and red shoes with a white bottom.

"I would've been here sooner but I had to beg my mom to let me come over today" Connie said crossing her arms. "You had to beg her?" Steven asked and Connie nodded. "Why? We had this planned like two weeks ago" Connie looked at him and smiled "My school decided to drop a whole load of homework on me yesterday, and now that today is Saturday, my mom wanted me to spend all day working on it" "That sucks" I said. "I'll probably work on some of it here, it is a lot" Connie looked at me. "Steven isn't in school so most of the work I'm doing he wouldn't understand" "Hey!" Steven yelled, causing Connie to look at him and stick her tongue out at him, "Maybe you could help me, Steven mentioned that you were in school until you moved here, and you would be a grade ahead of me" She shrugged. To be honest, I forgot most of the stuff I learned in school, most of it seemed unimportant. I looked at her before saying "I'll try to help when I can" and she shot me a smile.

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"I'm bored!" Connie yelled as she feel back onto Stevens bed. Her and Steven have been playing Lonely Blade for three hours and it's getting pretty dark outside. "You're only saying that because you keep losing" Steven retorted. Connie looked and gave him some serious death glares. Both Steven and Connie are masters at this game, and from how Connie was playing, I could tell she doesn't like to lose. "I should start doing my homework now anyways" She said as she hopped off Steven's bed and walked to her backpack that was on the couch next to the stairs. Steven bumped my arm and I turned to face him, "Wanna play?" he asked me. I looked at, Connie asked me to help her with her homework and I've never played Lonely Blade, he'd destroy me. "Uhh… I should help Connie with her homework" Steven shot me a frown before looking at his collection of video games on the floor in front of him. "Besides" I added "You two are like, masters at that game, I'd get clobbered" I saw Steven smile but he didn't look away from his games. I should probably go help Connie now.

I walked up to Connie who had set her books and this huge packet of papers with lines of text that lead to lines where she had to fill in answers. "Woah… that's a lot of papers, there's got to be at least 50!" I shouted. "85 to be exact" She gave me a weak smile and returned to her papers. "It's actually not that hard, just really long and time consuming" She told me. I looked at the paper and I guess she's learning about water? "You're learning about water?" I asked, "Well… not exactly" She paused. "We're learning about liquids and how they interact with each other" I tilted my head, I don't remember learning about this.

"You look confused?" Hearing that made me jump. "Uhh… No I understand" I told her. I looked at her paper to read the questions on there. "Saliva?" I asked. "Oh! That question's easy!" She shouted as she read the question out loud "What is the percentage of water in saliva? 98%!" She wrote down the answer and turned to me. "I think it's kinda cool that a lot of liquids can stay on top of others while some others sink to the bottom or mix" I smiled, I can tell she really likes school and most of the stuff she's learning, I could never get into school. The best part of school that I remember was being able to talk to my friends, or well, acquaintances. I tried focusing on the paper, but I can't get the thought of Lapis out of my mind. I've been thinking about her and this Jasper who was corrupted. Steven told me that him and the Crystal Gems have been trying to find a way to cure corruption but they nothing comes to their mind.

"Hey Steven?" I turned to face his direction. "Yeah?" He looked at me. "Don't you have healing spit?" Connie's head shot up "Oh yeah, I forgot you could do that" Steven looked down with a smile and placed his hand on his gem. "Well…" I paused, "Have you ever tried to heal a corrupted gem with that?" Connie looked at me then looked at Steven, her facial expressions telling me that she doesn't know the answer to this one. Steven's smile immediately formed into to a frown and he grabbed his shirt tightly. "I-" He stopped. "I tried that" his voice quivered as he looked to his left. I grabbed my left arm, now I made him upset, great. Wait… I just got an idea.

"Steven, can you fuse like the other gems?" There was a moment of silence before he turned to me, rubbed his eye and nodded. "Steven can fuse with humans and gems" Connie told me. "Well, what if you fused with Lapis?" "Huh?" "Oh!" Shouted Connie, "I get it, it's like my homework!" Steven looked at us in confusion. "It's just a theory but… if you fuse with Lapis, who has control of water, maybe she can better control your healing spit?" Steven put his hand on his chin, "We can try it" "Do you know where she is? You guys said she flew off?" Connie asked. I think I know where she is" Steven said.

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The fast blue lights disappeared around us and we were greeted by a dark blue sky and around us was a floor that looked as if it mirrored the ocean. On the floor we there was a lot of warp pads, all of them broken and in the center a big one. I looked around before asking Steven, "Where are we?" "This is the Galaxy warp, it was here where a lot of Homeworld gems came to Earth, this place is also where Lapis' gem was cracked and where Pearl found her" Steven informed us. "There she is" Connie pointed to our left and whispered. There Lapis was, Sitting on the edge of the floor looking down onto the ocean. Steven walked to her and we followed behind but kept our distance. "Lapis" Steven said, causing her to jump. "Steven" she said as she turned to him, but she saw us and formed an angry expression and looked away. "Why are you here?" "I- I want to help" "You can't help me Steven" she said. "But, we may have found a way to heal Jasper" That got her attention. "What do you mean?" She looked at him. "It involves fusion" He told her. Steven continued to inform her on the plan. "And you're sure that will work?" Steven looked down but said "No, I'm not, but I think it's worth a try" He reached his hand out to hers. "Okay, let's try it" She said grabbing his hand.

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Steven took us back to the Temple where he talked to Garnet, she let us into her room where there were a bunch of tubes the crawled on the ceiling. Also really hard to not notice, there were hundreds of gems in individual bubbles. "Are all of these corrupted gems?" I asked. "Yeah" Steven responded. Garnet looked up. "There's Jasper" "I got her!" We heard a familiar voice from our left. We looked to see Amethyst standing in a hallway. She pulled her whip from her chest and grabbed the bubble with it and Jumped down to us as the bubble came to her arms. "Here you guys go" She said as she handed the bubble to Steven. He set the bubble on the ground and walked to Lapis. "You ready he asked her" Lapis looked at the bubbled Jasper and nodded.

Steven and Lapis walked away from each other. They both exhaled and started doing their own forms of dancing. Stevens was very uncoordinated and seemed like a bunch of randomness, while Lapis' was very formal and seemed like how you would dance in a ball room. They started moving to each and Lapis reached out her hand and Steven grabbed it, to which she twirled him around before leaning into him. Lapis started glowing a light blue color as Steven did pink. There figures danced around themselves and the room grew bright.

The light subsided and I could finally see what had happened. I didn't see Lapis or Steven anymore. But in their places was a tall figure that had four arms with a long blue dress with a pig pink star in the middle and a star cut out on the stomach. The person had medium length light blue hair that was curly and pointed in the back and pale blue skin. I looked around and saw Garnet with a huge smile on her face walk over to them. "Who are you?" Garnet asked them. They looked at their hands and formed a fist. "Calcite" They responded. They walked over to bubble containing Jasper and popped it, as the gem laid on the ground Calcite licked the palm of their top left hand and formed a sparkling bubble out of that. They pushed that bubble over to Jasper and the gem fused into the bubble. After a while the gem started to glow and the water bubble formed into a puddle on the ground. The gem started to form a figure, the light orange glow made a large humanoid figure that had long hair. However the figure started spazzing out and started to form a huge round oval shaped figure.

I looked to my right and then my left and saw Garnet and Amethyst summon their weapons and prepare themselves. But the figure calmed down and started to form a person again. The glowing subsided and laying on the ground was a girl with long pale orange hair and orange skin with red stripes going down her arms. She also wore a dark red uniform with huge boots and a lighter maroon top. She slowly pushed herself off of the ground and Calcite started to glow. Before we knew it Calcite split apart and Steven fell on the ground and Lapis on her knees. Jasper looked up at us and stared. "J- Jasper!" Lapis shouted as they made eye contact. Jasper looked away from her and back to us and saying, "Who… who are you?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I'm so, so, so, sooooooo sorry for not uploading this sooner. Turns out my friend who was editing decided that he doesn't want to, so now I will be getting a different friend named Jude to help me edit! tyyy Jude! On a good/bad note I am no longer uploading this on a scheduled at all. My reason for doing this is so that I'm not stressed to finish a chapter and can write better. Also my schedule and Jude's don't line up to well so it is better for him as well! Thank you guys for being patient with me and I hope you enjoy what I have to come. I also made this chapter a little longer to make up for my absence ^.^


	8. Chapter 8: Will it last?

Chapter 8: Will it last?

'Who are you?'

Those words seemed to echo throughout the room as we stood in complete silence and shock. Jasper just laid there looking at all of us individually, as if she was trying to find someone she recognized. "Are you serious!?" She shouted "After everything that we went through… everything! She just forgot us!" I looked over to Lapis who had her hands cupped over her mouth, shaking. Jasper, still looking around, sets her eyes on Steven, who was still on the ground. But she focuses her eyes on his gem. "Rose…" She said extending the name as she started to get up. "You.. ARHH" she screamed moving her hands to her head. "I- I can't…" She tried to say something before blue circles started to form around her right arm. "Jasper!" Steven shouted, standing and running to her aid. "You…" She said as she winced in pain. "Calm down" Garnet said. "Steven can help you" Jasper made eye contact with Steven and he stopped. Steven took his hand and licked it, reaching to Jasper's gem.

Jasper's gem started to glow as she lowered her grip on her head and her arms returned to normal. "Rose… you.." "I healed you" Steven told her. She looked at her hand and made a fist before looking back at Steven. "Where am… I?" she asked. Garnet walked past us and helped Jasper up. "Let's take her outside" Garnet told us.

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We got outside and the darkened cold air blew by us causing Steven to shiver and grab both of his arms. Garnet set Jasper down on a rock and backed up, crossing her arms. "Jasper" She said, getting her attention. "What do you remember?" She asked. Jasper put her hand on her knee and looked at the ground. "I" she paused. "Rose Quartz" She said. Amethyst walked up next to Jasper, putting her hands on her hips. "You don't remember me at all?" She asked, squinting at her. Jasper looked her dead in the eyes for a few seconds before replying with a cold "No" Amethyst crossed her arms and grunted before walking next to Steven, Connie and I "I don't believe it, how could she forget all of us except Rose?" she asked. "I don't know" Steven answered. Garnet walked closer to Jasper "What do you remember about Rose Quartz?" Jasper looked down. "I remember only the name" She informed us. "Jasper" Garnet said, causing her to return Jasper's glance back at her. "Come with me, I'll explain everything" She reached her hand out to Jasper but she smacked it away "I don't need your help" Garnet crossed her arms as Jasper attempted to get up but immediately tripped and fell in the sand, causing a snicker from Amethyst and a diss.

After Granet helped Jasper off the ground Steven turned and headed to where Lapis is, who was watching from the top of Steven's house. "Do you think she'll be okay?" Connie asked me, "Who? Jasper or Lapis?" I responded. She looked at Garnet and Jasper then at Lapis, "Both" she said. I looked at the ground. "I don't know, if Jasper forgot everyone, I must be really hard on Lapis" "Oh and Steven!" I heard from behind up, Steven, who was halfway up the stairs, turned around to Garnet. "You should go to bed, it's getting late" Steven frowned and looked up to Lapis before continuing in her direction. "Hey" Connie said jumping in front of me "You staying the night?" I haven't really thought about it, "I'll have to ask my sister but I'm sure that I can" "Sweet!" She raised her fist in the air, "Let's get Steven, I brought a great movie we can watch" She informed me as she turned and started walking to Steven, I soon followed. As we got the top of the stairs we saw Steven on the roof with Lapis, she looked at both of us and put her hand on Steven's shoulder "Hey" She stood up "I'm gonna go" "Are you gonna be okay" Steven asked her "Yeah, I'll be fine" she gave a forced smile before her wings expanded from her gem. She looked back at Connie and I as her smile faded and she flew off. Connie and I walked closer to Steven and she spoke up "Hey, wanna watch a movie with us?" Steven looked off into the dark sky before looking at Connie and I "Sure" Steven said in a dampened tone before standing up and walking off the the roof and slowly floated to the ground. It came as a shock to me, 'I forgot Steven could float' I said to myself.

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I followed Connie and Steven into his house, when we walked in Connie ran to her backpack and grabbed out her laptop and a DVD and set them on the table "Hey… You got your computer fixed" Steven laughed nervously "Yeah, thanks for breaking it by the way" Connie said in a stern but joking voice. "It wasn't my fault! It was Lion!" he yelled as he pointed to the pink colored lion lying beside door that enters the Temple. She turned to him and placed her hand on her hip "Yeah, yeah, I know; I'm just messing with you" She gave a smile as Steven nervously sat down in the middle of the long couch. Connie also grabbed a plastic bag from her backpack "I'm gonna go change into pajamas" she informed us before taking the bag and walking to Steven's bathroom. "I should too" Steven said as he got off the couch and ran to his closet upstairs to change. I walked over to the kitchen and put my coat on one of the chairs and took off my shoes and sighed. I jumped to the sound of the warp pad going off. I looked to my left to see Pearl and Olivia, the latter looking tired, as she had dust all over her pants and the left side of her face and her arms were scuffed up.

They walked over to me and Olivia sat down in the chair I put my jacket on "What's up, did I miss anything interesting?" she asked as Pearl walked and leaning her arm on the other side of the counter. "Actually, you missed a lot" Steven said in a worried tone as he took his shirt off. "What happened Steven?" Pearl asked. Steven finished buttoning up his light blue pajama top and turned his attention to Pearl. As Steven started to speak up we heard a voice from behind us. "Jasper is back" it's Amethyst, I guess I didn't hear her come in due to the noise of the warp pad. "What?!" Pearl yelled as she jumped back and grabbed onto the counter. "I thought you said she was corrupted?" Pearl asked, her voice shaking. "Yeah, about that" Amethyst said. "I think we found a way to cure corruption" I spoke up. Pearl, turning her attention to me, "How? When did this happen?" "About fifteen minutes ago" Steven told her. "But how?" she asked again. "A lucky guess?" I said "Steven fused with Lapis and used their combined powers to heal Jasper" "But I can't tell if it is permanent" Steven told her. Pearl looked at Steven in shock, "So… she's like Centipeetle now?" The name Centipeetle, I recognized it, I think Steven mentioned it to me before. "No" Steven responded. "She looks fully healed, but something seems to still be wrong with her"

"I don't understand" Steven said. "She looks fine but it's still there" he continued. "It started to come back, it started to form on her arm again, I got it to stop but I don't know for how long" Just as Steven finished his sentence Connie walked out of the bathroom, in a light green sleeping gown with a darker green outlining. It seems as she couldn't hear us due to the fact she had an earbud in her right ear and when she looked up to see Pearl. "Oh Pearl!" She jumped up excitedly "When did you get here?" Pearl looked at the table, still with distraught eyes. "Just a few minutes ago. Connie looked confused for a moment but I think she connected the dots by the look on everyone's face, she knew we were talking about Jasper.

Amethyst walked to the side of the table and leaned up against it. "You wanna know the worst part?" She asked Pearl, catching her attention. "She doesn't even remember us" Pearl crossed one arm and used the other to hold up her head, getting lost in her own thoughts. Olivia reached in her pocket and grabbed out her watch. "It's 9:49" She said looking in my direction. "We should probably get going" She stood up grabbing her dark blue bubble jacket that she threw on the counter. "Uhh actually" I spoke up. "I was wondering if I could stay the night at Steven's?" I asked her. She looked at me for a moment before shrugging "Yeah sure" I sighed, for a second I thought she was going to say no. She walked by me, patting me on my shoulder as she slipped on her jacket. As she walked opened the door to the outside she stopped and turned to up, putting her first two fingers on her lips and waving us off.

A few minutes passed before Amethyst yawned, "I'm bored, what movie are you gonna watch?" she asked Connie, Steven and I. I looked at Connie, she never told us what movie we were gonna watch. Connie smiled and grabbed the DVD next to her laptop and showed us. "What?!" Steven shouted and fell off of the upper floor and landed face first onto the couch. "Is that a new Lonely Blade movie?!" Connie gave Steven a confident chuckle "You guessed it!" As if Steven's eyes formed stars in the he jumped off the couch to observe the movie. "Lonely Blade VI" He said quietly. "Here" he said as he handed the movie back to Connie, "Put it in, I'll get blankets!" he basically yelled as he informed us, going up the stairs.

'Since I don't have any pajamas, I guess I should just sit down' I thought to myself as I walked closer to Steven's couch. I glanced around the house one more time; fixing my eyes on Lion, who caught my attention due to him yawning and standing up from is laid down position. I made eye contact with the lion and as soon as I noticed, he started walking to me. As Lion walked closer to me I got a little worried, yes, I've rode on Lion before but he's never approached me randomly before. It made me feel strange. I started to slowly back further away from the edge of the couch but Lion walked over faster the I did. He pushed me up with his nose and slid me on the couch before walking in front of me, slightly to my right and laid down on my feet. "Aww" I heard Steven say from above as he looked at Lion and I. "I wish Lion would lay like that with me, he usually does his own thing" Steven said aloud.

"Well you guys ready?" Connie asked in a compelling tone. "Yeah! Let's do it!" Amethyst yelled in a deeper voice as she took the big blanket from Steven and threw it in the air falling on me. I removed the blanket from my face and Steven jumped from the upper floor and landed next to my left. Connie slid next to Steven and Amethyst did what Steven did but landed on the head of the couch and behind Steven and me, giving us a victory sign. Connie had a wireless computer mouse with her and opened the DVD player app on her laptop. As soon as the movie started, it hit me how tired I was.

We've been watching the movie for about 40 minutes and there were some parts where Steven and Connie gasped, cheered, or got absorbed into the scene. If I'm being completely honest, I have no idea what's going on. I guess that's what I should've expected, considering the fact I haven't seen any of these movies, but seeing Steven so enthusiastic about this movie, I decided it was best to not tell them. Steven and Connie were watching the movie in awe as the main character took down hordes of enemies single handedly. I can see why they liked this movie a lot, I just wish I knew what was really going on. I started to feel the hunger of sleep take over, so I leaned back further into the couch and I accidently slid onto Steven. I jumped at the sudden touch, as I started to move away I felt a tug on my hand. I noticed then that Steven had grabbed my hand. Feeling more comfortable I leaned closer into Steven and rested my head in his shoulder. I felt a gaze being placed on me, prodding me to look up and meet my eyes with Steven's. It hit me, I had actually forgotten of the events that had occurred earlier today, I forgot that Steven and I were dating now. Steven smiled at me, I just noticed that I'm blushing, oh geez, how long have I been doing that? I buried my face into the blanket and I felt Steven's eyes leave me, probably watching the movie again. Being here is the most safe I've ever felt, I started dropping my focus on things when everything went dark.

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" _Aleks!"_

'What? Who is that?'

" _Aleks! Wake up!"_

I snapped back into reality when I realized the voice calling to me was Steven. I opened my eyes to see Steven sitting in front of me and Connie behind him. "C'mon we gotta hurry!" Connie said as I slowly pulled myself up from off of the couch. There was a loud crash from outside "Can you not hear that!?" Connie asked. "I hear it" I said lazily "How what is that?" "We don't know" Steven responded "We're gonna check it out, come on, let's go" He said pulling my off of the couch and I stumbled to my feet. As we started for the door we heard it again, a loud crash, 'How did I not hear this in my sleep?' I asked myself. We could feel the ground shake as we headed to the door; Steven opened the door and we were greeted by the freezing cold air and the bright sunlight, causing my eyes to adjust.

We ran to the edge of his porch and looked out onto the beach. On the beach was Garnet, with her gauntlets equipped, sliding across the sand, she dug her hand into the sand to slow her down and eventually come to a stop. 'Is garnet fighting something?' I asked myself but then heard Steven say aloud, as if he was reading my thoughts. "I don't know" Responded Connie. I looked to my left and past Connie. "There" I pointed. Far across from Garnet, was Jasper? She was wearing a bright orange helmet with a yellow visor, she yelled as she charged, going towards Garnet.

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 ** _Authors Note:_** _Okay! I've actually had this done for OVER A MONTH now! My reasoning for not posting this any sooner is that I was talking with my new editor and he told me to wait a while. Well... I did and he never got back to me, so from now on when I make these I won't be using an editor, so if you see more screw up, my apologizes. That said, it is also my fault, I planned to release this earlier but I ended up getting caught up with school and other personal life business. I **WILL** continue to make these, all I ask is patience, I want to make these good, and now that I'm on my own I will be taking longer to make and post these. Thank you for waiting and I will post again!_


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